There was highs and lows within the Longshots Sports stable this weekend as Simon Barclay battled in Belgium but narrowly got edged out by IBF inter-Continental Cruiserweight champion Bilal Laggoune, losing 116-112 on all three of the ringside judges’ scorecards on Friday evening. Ellesmere Port fighter Mason Cartwright maintained his unbeaten record in Liverpool on Saturday evening with a demolition job on Latvian, Zaurs Sadihovs with a second round stoppage.

‘Sparkly’ Barclay had many positives to take from his experience abroad in the Belgian city of Gent; the fight stayed competitive for the majority of the contest but a stronger finish by Laggoune was the difference at the final bell.

It was nip and tuck in the early stages of the fight. Barclay took control of the centre of the ring as he began to pop out a crisp jab, doubling up from face to body. Despite tucking up nicely, Laggoune was able to find the majority of his success to the body of the Corby native.

Laggoune started to find a rhythm in the third and fourth round as he used the outside of the ring to his advantage. His slick movement made Simon miss more than he could land and the champion’s sharp countering won him the rounds; but one sweetly-timed right hand to the chin of Laggoune in the fifth swung the momentum into Barclay’s direction. The punch momentarily startled the Belgian as he stumbled back a step or two, but the challenger failed to capitalise as Laggoune managed to hold on and recover.

Laggoune fought back well in the next round, but the better work came from Barclay during the middle rounds. Barclay grew in confidence and could be told from his slick boxing skills on display. Working off his jab and following up with a sweet right hand, mixing it up with shots to the head and body finding the target. Laggoune started to tire and can find his self considerably lucky not to have a point deducted with his excessive holding.

With the fight in the balance going into the championship rounds, Laggoune began to show why he was the champion. His second wind kicked in and all of a sudden it was Barclay who begun looking sluggish. Laggoune turned the boxing contest into a scrap which Barclay happily accepted as both fighters slugged it out to the final bell. Despite never putting Simon in any major trouble, it was Laggoune who landed the cleaner shots in the final rounds and stole the victory away from Barclay.

The following evening, Mason Cartwright was in no mood to work overtime as he blasted out his Latvian opponent Zaurs Sadihovs, knocking him down three times in total in Mason’s first contest at 147lbs.

The Latvian quite simply couldn’t handle Cartwright’s power or aggression as he breathed a sigh of relief when referee Mark Lyson waved the contest off just one minute twenty six seconds into the second round.

‘Nutty’ was in bullish mood as he impressively cut off the ring all throughout the short-lived contest as Sadihovs couldn’t find a way out of trouble. The first knockdown sent the Latvian stumbling back and through the ropes from a left hand, thankfully a group of hands from outside the ring aided Sadihovs from falling out completely.

Moments later, Sadihovs was down again. This time from a punishing left hand which landed sweetly to the Latvians body. He managed to beat the referee’s eight count but Mason didn’t let him breath as he continued to plow forward, Sadihovs survives the round.But it was same again from Mason in the second round. There was nothing Sadihovs could do but to just tuck up and survive. Cartwright did a fantastic job cutting off the ring and halfway through the second round, Mason found a gap in his opponent’s tight guard and nicely thrashed in a right hand which found the target and sent Sadihovs crashing down to the canvas for a third time. The Latvian bravely stood up to fight on, but referee Mark Lyson saved him from further damage and waved off the contest.

Mason Cartwright moves onto 13-0 as a professional as he edges ever closer to a title fight.